1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to self-serve food product dispensers.
2. Background and Description of Related Art
Cafeterias, vending areas, convenience stores and restaurants often have self-serve apparatuses for dispensing to consumers one or more different types of wrapped or unwrapped food products, such as different types of baked goods.
Known dispensing arrangements for unwrapped food products, such as the display cabinet described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,078,813, may have crumbs, seeds and similar items accumulate in the bottom thereof. Such an accumulation of separated items may be unsightly and may be undesirable for other reasons as well.
Further, known food product dispensers may be rather bulky, and may take up unduly great amounts of counter space, which may be limited.
Many known food product dispensers also dispense food products on a first in, last out basis (the first products loaded into the dispensers are generally the last products which are made available to consumers). These dispensers, thus, do not provide uniform product rotation and freshness.
There is a need for an improved self-serve apparatus for dispensing more than one type of food product to consumers, particularly food products which are not wrapped, and from which crumbs, seeds and similar items may become separated, such as several different varieties of bagels.
It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved self-serve apparatus for dispensing more than one type of food product from a compact space which may be suitable for use in, e.g., cafeterias, convenience stores, and/or vending areas where counter space is limited, and compactness is highly desirable.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for dispensing more than one type of food product which is easy to use, both from the standpoint of the consumer who is receiving product from the dispenser, as well as from the standpoint of persons responsible for setup, filling, removal of unused product for storage, and cleaning of the dispenser.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth hereinbelow and are shown in the accompanying drawings.